Who Can You Include in a Subclass 864 Application in 2026?
How partner, dependent child and non-migrating family member rules work for the Contributory Aged Parent visa (subclass 864) in 2026.
Yes — a Contributory Aged Parent visa (Subclass 864) application can cover your spouse or de facto partner and any dependent children who meet the dependency criteria, and every other family member must still be declared even if they are not migrating. Any family member included in the application has to satisfy the health and character requirements, and the Department may also ask non-migrating family members to meet those same requirements. This reflects the Australian Department of Home Affairs' official Contributory Aged Parent visa (subclass 864) page. It is general information about how those published rules fit together, not personalised migration advice, so your own circumstances should always be checked against the Department's current requirements.
Who exactly can be listed as a secondary applicant?
Three categories can be included on the same application:
- Your spouse or de facto partner. The relationship must be evidenced as described below; the Department's page treats marriage and de facto relationships as separate evidentiary routes rather than different entitlements.
- Your dependent children, including the children of your partner, provided they fall inside one of the dependency limbs set out further down.
- No one else is covered by the Department's checklist. Adult children who are not dependent are not dependent children for this visa, and the Department's requirements only set out evidence for partners and dependent children; grandchildren, parents and siblings are not addressed by that guidance.
Everyone included needs a valid passport, because you and anyone applying with you must hold valid passports before the visa can be granted.
Do I have to declare family members who are not coming to Australia?
Yes. You must include details of all of your family members in the application form even if they are not migrating. This catches a surprising number of people out: leaving someone out because they are staying behind is incomplete information, and there are consequences for information that is not accurate or complete. The Department's identity provisions are explicit — if identity cannot be proven, it may refuse another visa for 10 years and may also decline to grant a visa to any family members listed on the application for 10 years.
Declaring a non-migrating family member is not a formality either. Family members who are not coming to Australia might still be asked to meet the health and character requirements, which can mean health examinations for someone who never intends to travel.
Can my spouse or de facto partner join the application?
Yes. For a partner you include, the Department asks for:
- identity documents
- character documents
- evidence of your relationship — either your current marriage certificate, or documents proving you have been in a de facto relationship for at least 12 months before you apply
- documents about their other relationships, if applicable
Documents that prove a de facto relationship, in the Department's own examples, include joint bank account statements, billing accounts in joint names, joint leases or mortgages, and documents showing that you have lived at the same address as your partner. Note the timing element: the 12-month de facto period is measured before you apply, not accumulated afterwards.
Which children count as dependent children?
To be included as a dependent child, a child must meet one of three tests:
| Child's situation | Included as dependent? |
|---|---|
| Under 18 years of age | Yes |
| Over 18 but not yet turned 23 | Yes, if dependent on you or your partner |
| Over 23 | Only if unable to earn a living to support themselves due to physical or cognitive limitations, and dependent on you or your partner |
The third limb is conjunctive: age alone is not enough. A 25-year-old who is financially reliant but has no physical or cognitive limitation does not satisfy the test as the page frames it.
What happens if my child turns 23 while the application is waiting?
This is the single most common timing trap in this visa. Parent visa applications are subject to capping and queueing, and the Department notes that queue release dates govern when applications move forward. If your child is likely to turn 23 while the application is processed, you will need to provide evidence that they are dependent on you due to disability. In practice, that means an 18–22-year-old included on the basis of ordinary dependency can fall out of eligibility during the wait unless the disability limb applies — so plan the dependency evidence around the decision date, not the lodgement date.
Can I include children if I apply as a retiree?
No. If you are applying as a retiree, you cannot include your children, or your partner's children, in your application. The retiree restriction applies whether the children are under 18 or would otherwise satisfy the dependency tests.
The same restriction echoes later: if you applied as a retiree and later add a spouse or de facto partner to the application, that partner must be in Australia when you add them. In a non-retiree application, a spouse or de facto partner added after lodgement can be in or outside Australia at the time they are added.
What does each family member need to supply?
| Included person | Documents the Department asks for |
|---|---|
| Partner | Identity documents; character documents; marriage certificate or 12-month de facto evidence; documents about other relationships if applicable |
| Dependant under 18 | Identity documents; evidence of your relationship (e.g. birth or marriage certificate); character documents if applicable |
| Dependant 18 or over | Identity documents; relationship evidence; documents about their other relationships if applicable; character documents; proof of dependency |
Two requirements apply to everyone in the application regardless of category:
- Four recent photographs each, passport-sized (45mm x 35mm), less than six months old, good quality colour rather than laser copies, showing the full face against a plain light-coloured background. Untinted prescription glasses are acceptable, and a head covering worn for religious reasons may be worn provided the face is shown.
- Health and character clearance when the Department asks for it. Do not arrange a police check until you are asked to.
The Assurance of Support, where it is required, covers you and any family members who come to Australia with you on this visa. It does not have to be provided by the sponsor or a family member; an individual, several people, or an organisation can provide it.
Is the balance-of-family test the same as the dependency test?
No, and conflating them causes avoidable errors. The balance-of-family test counts your children and step-children to establish whether at least half are eligible children, or whether more eligible children live in Australia than in any other single country. It is about where your children are settled and what their residency status is. Whether a child can be included in the application is a separate question answered by the three dependency limbs above. An adult child who helps you pass the balance-of-family test is frequently not someone you can include as a secondary applicant.
Can family members be added after I lodge the application?
Possibly, before a decision is made. The Department's process is to complete Form 1436 Adding an additional applicant after lodgement and send it in — either uploaded through ImmiAccount if the application was lodged online or imported, or via the Parent visa processing centre form. Along with the form you need evidence of your relationship to that person and a copy of their passport.
If you have applied online on or after 22 April 2026, ImmiAccount is the lodgement channel, and adding members generally runs through the same online account.
Separately, certain changes must be notified in their own right: the birth of a child, changes to your relationship status, changes to family composition, and changes to contact details or passports. If you made a mistake on the form, that is handled with Form 1023 Notification of incorrect answers, not by quietly attaching a correction.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I include my adult child if they are studying full time and living with me?
Only if they satisfy one of the dependency limbs on the Department's page: under 18, or 18 and not yet 23 and dependent on you or your partner, or over 23 and unable to earn a living because of physical or cognitive limitations while also being dependent on you. Full-time study and co-residence support a dependency claim for the 18–22 group but do not by themselves extend eligibility past 23.
Do family members who are staying behind need health checks?
They might. The Department states that family members who are not coming to Australia might also need to meet health and character requirements, even though they are declared rather than included. You will be told when health examinations are needed rather than having to arrange them unprompted.
Does my partner need to prove we lived together for 12 months?
For a de facto relationship, yes — documents must prove you have been in a de facto relationship for at least 12 months before you apply. Joint bank statements, joint billing accounts, joint leases or mortgages, and documents showing a shared address are the examples the Department gives. A married couple instead relies on the current marriage certificate.
Can I add my partner later instead of including them now?
The Department says you might be able to add family members before a decision is made, using Form 1436 plus relationship evidence and a passport copy. The location rule differs by pathway: a spouse or de facto partner can be in or outside Australia when added unless you applied as a retiree, in which case they must be in Australia.
If I apply as a retiree, can my partner still be part of the application?
The retiree restriction in the Department's guidance bars your children and your partner's children from the application; it does not remove the partner category itself. Retiree applicants should note the mirror restriction later — a spouse or de facto partner added to a retiree application must be in Australia at the time they are added.
Does including family members change what the visa costs?
Costs scale with who is included. The visa costs from AUD49,900 for a single applicant, and you might also need to pay other costs for each applicant for health checks, police certificates and biometrics; the exact amount is set out on the Department's current visa pricing page. From 1 July 2026, a lower visa cost also applies to eligible Pacific Island and Timor-Leste citizens, and family members are eligible for that lower cost based on the passport of the primary applicant.
Can I include my grandchildren?
Not as secondary applicants on this visa. The categories the Department's page describes are partners and dependent children; grandchildren sit outside them. One of the entitlements of holding the visa is the ability to sponsor family members to come to Australia, which operates as a separate application in its own right rather than as part of yours.
What if my family situation changes while the application is queued?
You are required to tell the Department about changes to your relationship status and family composition, including the birth of a child, as well as changes to contact details and passports. Adding a person is done through Form 1436, and correcting incorrect answers is done through Form 1023.